New 125 all male peacock and Hap tank

[Eric1115]

Hi
I am in the process of setting up my first all male tank. The tank is 125, 72" long.

Currently, it has the following fish in it

German Red - hybrid I think 5.5 inch
2 OB Peacocks - both 5 inch
Red Empress - 3 inch
Albino Dragonblood - 3 inch
Albino Taiwan Reef - 2.5 inch
Fusco Hap - 3 inch
Protomelas Spilonotus Mara Rock -5 inch
Iceberg Fryer
Blue Dolphin Morii - 4.5 inch

I wanted to add the following and wonder if they will work and if I will be overstock too much and which fish I should remove

Aristochromis Christyi - 4.5 inch
Lethrinops Intermedius - 4.25 inch
Malawi Gar - 5.5 inch
Mylochromis Lateristriga - 5.5 inch
Nimbochromis Venustus - 6 inch
Placidochromis Milomo VC10 - 5 inch
Placidochromis Electra - 6 inch
Dimidiochromis Compressiecer - 5 inch
Placidochromis Tarzanian Star Sapphire - 4.5 inch

Thanks

 

[Stephen St.Clair]

Surprisingly, I keep most of the Cichlids listed in your first group in my 120.
Regarding the wish list (all great choices)
many will eventually reach 9" - 12" inches.
Although a standard 125 tank seems like a big tank, five or six 10 inch predator Haps will quickly make it look small & cramped.
Might be a good idea to stock only one of the wish list big predator Haps and maybe a big relatively peaceful Hap like the VC-10; the rest smaller to mid- sized Haps.
I only have two Predator Haps, a young adult Fusco & Juvenile Livingstoni. Other Haps include, Borleyi, Red Empress, Tiawan Reef, Gold Blaze, Chrysonotis, & Azureus. The rest are Peacocks & Mbuna .
My tank population is maxed out. Not cramped but definitely full.
IMO your current stock list plus the wish list cichlids would take a 200 plus gallon tank to accommodate.

 

[Eric1115]

Surprisingly, I keep most of the Cichlids listed in your first group in my 120.
Regarding the wish list (all great choices)
many will eventually reach 9" - 12" inches.
Although a standard 125 tank seems like a big tank, five or six 10 inch predator Haps will quickly make it look small & cramped.
Might be a good idea to stock only one of the wish list big predator Haps and maybe a big relatively peaceful Hap like the VC-10; the rest smaller to mid- sized Haps.
I only have two Predator Haps, a young adult Fusco & Juvenile Livingstoni. Other Haps include, Borleyi, Red Empress, Tiawan Reef, Gold Blaze, Chrysonotis, & Azureus. The rest are Peacocks & Mbuna .
My tank population is maxed out. Not cramped but definitely full.
IMO your current stock list plus the wish list cichlids would take a 200 plus gallon tank to accommodate.

What about my wish list plus only the two Protomelas, Dolphin and the albino Taiwan Reef? I can rehome the rest once they get a little bigger? Would that work or still too much for a 125? What about from an aggression point of view? Are these all compatible?

thank you

 

[Stephen St.Clair]

There is always going to be aggression issues when dealing with African Cichlids.
Mixing XL male Predator Haps such as a Fusco, Eye Biter & Venustus in relatively tight quarters, could be a recipe for disaster.
If you were to introduce your entire wish list of Cichlids together as 1" - 2" juveniles, stocking adjustments could be made as things progressed.
You'll likely find that building a successful African Cichlid community, there will be a lot of mixing and matching between the current stock & wish list.

 

[Eric1115]

There is always going to be aggression issues when dealing with African Cichlids.
Mixing XL male Predator Haps such as a Fusco, Eye Biter & Venustus in relatively tight quarters, could be a recipe for disaster.
If you were to introduce your entire wish list of Cichlids together as 1" - 2" juveniles, stocking adjustments could be made as things progressed.
You'll likely find that building a successful African Cichlid community, there will be a lot of mixing and matching between the current stock & wish list.

Is it the Venustus, Fusco and the Conpressiecers that are the main concerns?

I can remove them from my list and replace with say

copadichromis Azureus
Redfin Borleyi

would that be better?

thanks

 

[Stephen St.Clair]

If the Fusco is male, keep it. IMO one of the best Haps available & are relatively uncommon. If the Venustus & Eye Biter are the lowest on your list, then it would be a good idea to trade or avoid them.

 

[Eric1115]

If the Fusco is male, keep it. IMO one of the best Haps available & are relatively uncommon. If the Venustus & Eye Biter are the lowest on your list, then it would be a good idea to trade or avoid them.

The Fusco is a male I believe, it’s only 3 inch or so but starting to color up nicely.

I can’t skip Venustus and Eye Biter. I am also willing to remove all of the peacocks i currently have to accommodate the wish list, if they will work.

I do have another 100 gallon that houses mostlyPeacocks and currently there are only 9 in there and they seems more aggressive than my MBuna tank. I wonder if it’s due to insufficient stock in there.

thanks

 

[Stephen St.Clair]

Moving the less wanted fish to the reserve tank would be a good move, and would allow space for more predator Haps in the 125.
Here's a pic of my young adult male Fusco.
One of my favorites.

 

[Eric1115]

Moving the less wanted fish to the reserve tank would be a good move, and would allow space for more predator Haps in the 125.
Here's a pic of my young adult male Fusco.
One of my favorites.View attachment 1411092

That’s a great looking fish, mine are no where close to yours. Mine has a little blue on the face and red on all the fins.

Will the Fisco be fine with the rest of the fish on my wishlist? Will not get the Venustus and Compressiecers.

thanks

 

[ryang85]

I keep most of the fish you mentioned in my 180, the venustsus and eye biter will be less aggressive than the fusco from my experience. If anything they will keep the aggression between them and avoid beating up the smaller fish. I personally find my tank very well stocked in terms of aggression and all the adult males show color and no one is particularly beat up. There is a distinct pecking order to keep everyone in control. Here's my list so you can judge how many fish you can put in your 120. I will butcher the spelling Latin names so I will use nicknames.


Malawi trout. ( not showing color yet but he is way to big for a 120.)

Malawi hawk. ( getting really big really quickly so a 120gal might be too small I have both male and female in the big tank and they get along and are a pretty docile fish)

Venustsus ( Is the most domant fish of the tank but mainly chases the red empress)

Fuscotineous ( youngest and smallest fish but the biggest A -hole in the tank)

Eye biter ( male and female and keep to their own except occasionally pick on the little guys)

Red empress. ( him and the OB are always picking at each other but theres never any damage)
V10
2 OB peacocks
Blueberry OB
Eureka red.
Eye biter
Livingstoni
Blue blood dragon.
Fossochromis rostratus ( no color yet)
Star sapphire
tropheus moliro
And various cats

My in my grow out tank I have
Buccochromis notetenia ( male and females)
Morri


After I add those fish I would consider my tank 100 percent full and a alot of my fish are younge. Having some bigger holes for fish to hide in will make a world of a difference in agression for hap and peacock tanks. I'll attach a picture of my tank for that. I would say you could tank about 2/3 to 3/4 of my list and be full depending on how you build up your rocks.
I would stray away from the hawk unless you plan on keeping very few fish. With haps less fish is better for agression and for 100gal you can put a lot of peacocks in there to make room for your hap tank. I've had luck with a fish every 4 gals on peacock tanks as long as you have plenty of rock work.